Authorities on the scene told The Daily Voice Friday afternoon that the school had been cleared Friday morning and parents were taking their children home.

Police were first called to Sandy Hook Elementary School at about 9:40 a.m. Some reports say the shooter has been killed and CNN reported that two weapons were recovered from his body. Another report said police surrounded a purple van at 33 Crosby St. in Danbury that may be connected to Newtown school shooting.

Mergim Bajraliu, 17, said he went to the school to get his 9-year-old sister. He said he was one of the first people to arrive at the school and saw troopers carrying a bloodied girl out of the building. His sister, who was not hurt in the incident, told him she was told to cover her eyes while being rushed from the school.

"It's disgusting. It's sick how a person can have such a cold heart to do this," Bajrialu said. "This is going to stay with them for the rest of their lives."

Danbury Hospital officials said three people were being treated there but would not comment on the nature of their injuries or severity.

One fourth grade boy told The Daily Voice that he heard a lot of "bangs" and hid in the library. He said he ducked under shelves before police and the librarian brought him out.

Parent Lisa Procaccini of Sandy Hook said her 8-year-old daughter was in the building Friday morning and heard what she thought was banging. The teacher told the students that the noise was a hammer and tried to keep the students calm, Procaccini said. The teacher brought the students into a bathroom, Procaccini said, and the children were brought outside.

Procaccini said her daughter saw a boy who had blood on his foot while being brought outside. She said the blood was from being cut by glass, not a gun shot.

Colleen Poundstone, a resident of Riverside Road, which leads up to the school, said she saw five kids - two boys and three girls - run through her back yard around 9:30 Friday morning. She said they had come through the local park, Sandy Hook Athletic Club field, which is near the school.

"They all looked upset," she said. "They said 'I just want to go home, I just want to go home."

Connecticut State Police said Lt. J. Paul Vance, the department spokesperson would hold a news conference at the scene at about 1:30 p.m.

Hundreds of law enforcement officials were at Sandy Hook Elementary Friday. Crying parents and children were seen walking out of the school. Two helicopters were flying above the scene.

Officials from the ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI were at the scene.

The district has canceled afternoon kindergarten and mid-day busing, according to its website.

Schools in neighboring Bethel were on lockdown Friday.

"This is unreal," Dobbs Ferry native Mike Rajendran said on Facebook. "My nephew is in the Connecticut school where the shooting just occurred. Just getting word that they are reuniting some parents and their kids. What is going on?"

Approximately how many deaths by gun per day is acceptable in a free society?

Nowadays, people in the public sphere who want to simply talk about gun violence in this country are often shouted down by the pro-gun freedom opposition--it's not the right time, it's not the right place. Democrats won't bring the issue up, because they know it's politically dangerous to do so. The NRA have become experts at preemptively striking every time there's any sort of gun-related tragedy in the news, by making people who broach the subject into the villains for exploiting a tragedy for personal gain. And Republicans, of course, depend on the NRA for political support. So, at least in public, the people who COULD have an effect on gun violence are doing nothing about it: political people on the left don't want to alienate anybody, and political people on the right only bring it up to talk about how there really isn't a problem--and if there is, it has nothing to do with guns.
So I guess there maybe ISN'T a gun problem, right? I mean, that's the message I'm getting is silence on the issue of gun control. If there's no dialogue, there must be nothing to talk about.
Which would mean, the current rate of 9 gun deaths per 100,000 people per year is OK, right? Acceptable losses. It's the price of being a free country with freedom-enabling gun laws. I mean, these are tragedies, but whatever--you can't make an omelette without breaking a few 28,000-odd eggs every 12 months. And when compared to other countries, that per capita per year body count puts us in between famously crime-ridden South Africa and politically volatile Montenegro. Canada, France, Israel, Australia, Poland, and Japan are all way below. True, Brazil is worse, but we actually have them beat when you look only at accidental deaths, ie, no "bad guys" involved.
I'm getting these numbers from www.gunpolicy.org, which is not based in America and claims to provide "evidence-based, country-by-country intelligence from a broad range of official and academic sources." They say they're non-biased. I have no evidence to say yea or nay on this, but the numbers sound right.
I know there are many here who are proud, responsible gun-owners who support the 2nd amendment--and then there are plenty who are neither. And I want to tell everyone right now--I don't have any answers. I don't know guns or gun laws at all. What I want to talk about, and I want to phrase in a way I haven't often heard it said before: is that statistic acceptable, i.e. "normal?" Or can we, and should we do better?
Most Americans believe this country is always capable of doing better. And that means our country as a whole should talk about bringing those statistics down. Everywhere. NOW

I have heard this "now is not the time to discuss gun control" However, I am waiting for someone to say "NOW, we will discuss gun control" Seems that day never happens. If we don't discuss gun control now, when people are experiencing the shock the consequences of our lax gun control laws, and lax enforcement of those that exist, it won't get discussed. We'll lapse once again into our complacent little lives - until the next shooting at which time it will once again "not be the time to discuss gun control."

What would you like to discuss? You are not only being cold given the timing of your rant, but you show great ignorance when you say we have lax gun laws. CT is among the most stringent as far as guns in the nation.
What we NEED is to stop burying our heads in the sand. New gun laws arent the answer, taking the kids security seriously is. We have seen a glut of new laws since these things started, to no avail, because laws arent the answer, responsible security is. Not a token cop, maybe armed hall monitors I dont know. I do know that creating "gun free" schools seems to simply create a safe environment for these things. At any rate its sad that so many will use this to push political agendas, at any cost.

I had the same thought, in passing. If now is not the time, when IS the time? It's hard to fix a date certain, but I can say with confidence that first we should grieve our collective loss. This may sound like the sort of line you'd hear from an NRA apologist which I assure you is not who I am. Rather I am simply someone who is sickened by this awful tragedy and not in a mood to think about legislation at a time like this. Let's grieve and bury the dead, and comfort and support the living, both of which are huge tasks given the magnitude of the loss. Then we can have the conversation about what steps should be taken to avoid such tragedies in the future.

My condolences to those who lost loved ones. But I believe this country can multi-task. And while the family and loved ones grieve their loss, those of us who have not been personally touched by this tragedy, can start the discussion - and keep it going. Not THEN, NOW!

We've been waiting for quite some time. NOW is the time for those who are not personally involved to discuss.

The 2nd Amendment in The Bill of Rights was not created to ensure a citizens right to hunt for food. It was created by a people who were painfully aware of the largest threat to freedom that exists in this world, which in fact is government, .... and like it or not, this fact is more true today than ever before. If you don't understand this then you need to become more informed.

Also note that studies have shown that more crimes are committed against citizens in an unarmed society than in an armed society. ... Take guns away from law abiding citizens and the only people who then have guns are the criminals and the police. ... Not a good scenario for law abiding citizens who then are forced into being victims.

Actually this is a symptom of people NOT having guns when they needed them. Its a time to pray & comfort those effected, but it does nobody any good to ignore the obvious. Our kids lives are to valuable to trust in feel good legislation to keep them safe. And 20 children lost their lives today, not 18.

Actually guns are the Cause of the deaths. A symptom of today's gun mentality. If everybody had guns how many more senseless acts could be committed day in and day out? How many people, trying to do the right thing would hit innocent bystanders and be killed themselves as active shooters. Forget wearing BDU's to a school, wear a suit and tie and blend in, now who do the cops stop first?
This ' what if only criminals had guns ' or ' how do we defend ourselves against our own government ' mentation is a disease, a paranoia. You can't defend yourself against your government they have bigger guns and these things called aircraft carriers that have attack planes and cruise missiles. You can't stop the shooting of a single person, only stop the shooter after the fact. Everybody having guns would only create mayhem. Just think of how many times you have seen road rage at it's best, then give everybody a gun. A knife? Well that;s a tad more personal and the victim might have a better chance at defense and survival and the killer a little less apt to try, as they are cowards in the first place and most likely (as 12 % of the population is to some degree ) mentally ill as well. I sleep just a bit better only thinking my next door neighbors, might Not have a gun. I worry less that a teacher might go off and shoot a student. A happy, well adjusted citizen with a gun needs that extra second to pull the trigger and that's when the perpetrator of a crime shoots them. Killing by attrition has never worked very well. I'm not asking you to give up your guns, just don't advocate everybody be armed. I like thinking my walk to the convenience store without being a victim of a drive-by is less than 1 in 100,000.. You have the right to bare arms all I want is the right to life( Liberty is out the window, this is Not a Free Society ) and pursuit of happiness. Happines is Not a warm gun Ken